School For Sarah
by CarmenCleopatra
Summary: I will finish the family fic! Just something to keep you mulling over until then... Incredibly AU and a bit of Charah, not promising lots... Reviews would be rather wonderful :


**I was on holiday in France, hadn't made any friends, and the weather was pretty appalling. So I nicked the computer and decided to write. Lots. But because I have no internet, this story will be kinda old by the time you read it, therefore I apologise (btw, today's date it the 14****th**** of August. I know.)**

**I can't actually remember a load of the information about my other Chuck fic, so just for continuity reasons, I'm leaving that until I arrive back in the UK. So yeah. Enjoy.**

**This is completely AU, and I don't own Chuck. Nope.**

Not everyone found looks appealing.

That's what Sarah Walker had come to discover after arriving at Lincoln School, Burbank. Her frizzy, mousey hair had been tied up in a makeshift pony tail, her braces not on show, and her nearest to fashionable clothing had been picked out specifically for this event.

She often despised her father's job. The moving was awful, especially when it was unexplained or unexpected. Her mother often tried to soothe her daughter's anger at the moving by telling her it had to be done. Sarah knew her mother was trying to protect her from the absolute truth, but she had found out about her father's true profession months ago. So what if he was a con-man? But, probably for the sake of Mrs Walker's sanity and Mr Walker's peace of mind, the word con-man was never mentioned. Ever.

The moving thing was occasionally a blessing, especially if Sarah had been struggling at the local high school. Mrs Walker always told her daughter that she would blossom into something beautiful, something that the boys would want and the girls would envy. That didn't stop the teasing for now.

Lincoln wasn't particularly different, albeit the mascot and the clashing school colours (purple and red this time). Boys still acted as if she was invisible, girls still giggled about her appearance in the corridor. Sarah took it in her stride. No one had stolen anything from her yet.

She walked into Chemistry thoroughly defeated and saw that the only seat left was one by a tall lanky boy with brown hair. She groaned internally, hoping he would be like all the others and just ignore her. He seemed far too keen. The teacher didn't even look up to acknowledge Sarah's presence, just muttered something along the lines of "there's a seat by Mr Bartowski, Miss Walker." A giggle swept throughout the class, and she watched as 'Mr Bartowski' rolled his eyes good naturedly. Feeling highly humiliated, Sarah sat herself down at the desk and placed her books on the desk.

"Hi," said the boy, running his hands through his hair, "my name's Charles, but everyone calls me Chuck. I think you probably know my surname by now." He grinned, "What's your first name Miss Walker?" Sarah smiled shyly, taking the hand he had presented and shaking it softly.

"My name's Sarah," Chuck nodded, "Chuck? I didn't think people named their kids Chuck anymore…" Chuck laughed, shaking his head.

"Well, my parents were sadists… So I'm sadly stuck with this name." Sarah giggled. She opened her Chemistry book to the same page as Chuck and sat up in her chair. Sure Chemistry wasn't her favourite, but making a good impression on teachers was important. They didn't seem to take looks into account like the pupils did.

"Where you from Sarah?" Chuck asked, and Sarah jumped slightly. It wasn't as if the room was completely silent, and Chuck seemed like a talkative guy. She just didn't seem to expect him to take interest solely in her.

"Washington, but I moved here from Seattle, and there from Michigan, and there from New York... you get it. I've lived all over the place." He looked impressed, and Sarah smiled, suddenly feeling a lot more at ease, "where are you from, Chuck?" He looked thoughtful for a moment, then grinned.

"Burbank." Sarah couldn't stop herself from looking slightly surprised.

"Seriously?" Chuck nodded, laughing lightly, "That's so… weird." Shrugging his shoulders, Chuck tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

"Not really. I mean, me and my sister have been living here all our lives, and she's a couple of years older than me," Chuck seemed to think hard for a moment, "my mom and dad got married in the local church, and they've been married twenty years now." Sarah smiled, feeling slightly lost. She could barely trace her grandparents, whereas Chuck's family seemed kind of deep routed in Burbank.

"Wow. Well, my mom was born in South Africa, and my dad was born in New York, although he was brought up all over the world, just like me." She looked at Chuck, who nodded enthusiastically, "so both my parents are bilingual, which is really useful when my family goes on holiday." Chuck looked amazed.

"Your family is so interesting! I mean, come on, my family is California born and bred, which is slightly interesting because I can go back generations and that is awesome for someone like me, cos I love history…" suddenly realising he had gone completely off topic, Chuck laughed nervously, which made Sarah laugh. He took this as a good sign to continue, "but you can say you're half this and that. You could easily be related to royalty!" Sarah laughed even harder at that, but their conversation was cut short by class finally starting.

Sarah tried to listen, she really did. She wrote notes in different colours, and Chuck even helped her (she discovered early on that he was a bit of a science nerd) but nothing seemed to stop the periodic table of elements going in one ear, and then flying straight out of the other. Suddenly a piece of paper hit her on the back of the head. Her stomach dropped. This was the way everything good when horribly, horribly wrong. The paper dropped down onto her chair. She picked it up and unfolded it slowly.

_Hey Walker, something's on your head. It's really scary and disgusting and… Oh wait, it's your hair. _

Sarah sucked in a breath and put the paper on the desk, attempting to ignore the sniggers coming from behind her. Chuck looked at it and she saw him clench his fists in anger. She prayed he wouldn't do anything. It would just aggravate them further, and there was only so much warning black belt karate could give. He looked at her, his brown eyes, ones which had earlier held such warmth and happiness were now burning with anger. She shook her head, and he sighed. She was used to this. It was fine.

Once class was over, Chuck stayed with her like a bodyguard.

"You should have said something!" He told her, "Whoever wrote that deserves to be punished!" Sarah sighed, grabbed Chuck's wrist and pulled him into an abandoned classroom, ignoring knowing (or disgusted) looks from other classmates.

"Look," she whispered fiercely, "I have had a lifetime of this ok. I _know _I'm not pretty, heck, I'm pretty ugly." She decided to ignore his grimace, "But I've had this," she pointed to the note, still clenched in Chuck's fist, "to know turning around and calling them bastards makes everything a hell of a lot worse." Chuck looked at her shocked and then opened his palm. He stared at the crumpled piece of paper for what seemed like an eternity, before balling it up again and throwing it into a nearby trash can. He gave a resigned sigh.

"Fine, you win, but if anything else like that remotely happens, I will tell someone." Sarah looked at him bitterly, and he took that as permission. He smiled at her sadly and turned to go, when Sarah cleared her throat. He turned back to face her, a questioning look on his face.

"Why are you doing this?" Sarah asked, her voice betraying something of both shock and complete gratitude. Chuck shrugged his shoulders.

"Because I don't like seeing people lonely," he grinned "especially those who could possibly be related to royalty."

MM

Sarah felt a lot better about school, especially after meeting Chuck. She just didn't feel so vulnerable, which was a change from usual. Even Chuck's sister, Ellie, had taken a shine to her. Ellie was in her final year of high school, and was destined to go off to medical school that September, so was incredibly smart. Sarah liked the older girl, and found it rather shocking that only a couple of months after her arrival at the school. Ellie asked if she could give Sarah a complete makeover.

"I mean, not that you're pretty now," Ellie said, blushing profusely, "you just seem like someone with the potential to be stunning." Sarah asked her mother (who was just so beside herself that her daughter had found friends, it was almost an automatic yes) and had agreed, outwardly unhappily, inwardly incredibly happily.

Sarah ambled over to the Bartowski household, purposely dragging her feet. She was really looking forward to this makeover, it was just she had butterflies. She had never been invited to anyone's house before, and was desperate on making a good first impression. She arrived five minutes before four, a time they had decided the morning before at school, and looked in awe at the house. It was large and stately, but not too overly decorative. It was tasteful, but it still left the impression that the owners were wealthy. Very wealthy. Sarah rang the doorbell, and suppressed the urge to run as fast as she possibly could back to her home. The door opened after a couple of seconds to a smiling woman in her late fifties with greying hair.

"You must be Sarah!" Sarah gave a feeble nod in confirmation of her name and the woman's smile grew even larger, "fantastic! I'm Mary, Chuck and Ellie's mom. Ellie is up in her room. She's really looking forward to this." Sarah didn't even have a chance to say she is was well, before Mrs Bartowski ("Call me Mary dear, Mrs Bartowski is what they call me at work…") ushered her up to Ellie's room. When Sarah entered the bedroom, she was taken aback by the scale of it. The room was covered in pictures, some of Ellie and Chuck, Ellie with her boyfriend Devon, Ellie with friends, and science pictures. Mainly pictures of brains. Ellie noticed where Sarah is looking and grins sheepishly.

"I want to be a neurosurgeon," she shrugged her shoulders, "I think the brain is fascinating." Sarah grinned and nodded in agreement, silently noting how nerdy Ellie was. Then she saw Ellie's dressing table and her eyes lit up.

"Wow. You have _really _gone to town on this makeover El!" Ellie grinned and ushered Sarah to the table, sitting her down in front of the mirror. Sarah smiled, and then grimaced, "sorry that you can't do anything about the braces…" Ellie made a 'pfft' noise and picked up the blonde hair dye. Sarah looked at the box nervously. "You do know how to use that stuff, right?" Ellie nodded.

"God yes! My entire freshman year I was a bottle blond." Sarah relaxed a little bit, sitting more into the chair.

"Good, good. Now, let's begin!"

MM

Sarah was shocked.

No longer was her hair mousey and frizzy or her eyes too small for her face. Looking in Ellie's mirror, she couldn't recognise herself anymore, and she could not help being thankful.

"Wow, Sarah. That is amazing. Completely amazing." Mary whispered her eyes wide. Sarah's hair was now blond and subtly wavy, her make up bringing out the blue of her eyes and making her lips look fuller. Her wardrobe now consisted of summer dresses which made her chest look larger and her legs, already long, look even longer, and jeans that hugged her model figure. Ellie looked at her as if she was a master piece.

"See why I taught you how to do your makeup? Now when you walk into class on a Monday, no one will even recognise you!" Sarah grinned widely, brushing a hand through her hair. It all seemed so simple now, "and Chuck is gonna have a fit when he sees you!" Sarah blushed a deep red.

"Shut up Ellie!" Ellie laughed delightedly,

"So you _do _like him then! I knew it!" Sarah looked down her feet in embarrassment, but couldn't for the life of her wipe the smile off of her face. She could see Mary smiling out of the corner of her eye, and felt that much better that she had been there to see the transformation. It just made it feel that much more real.

"Okay, okay, fine. But I will murder you if you tell him, got it?" Ellie nodded, attempted to be sombre, and then squealed in delight, almost as if she couldn't help herself. Taking Sarah's hand she dragged her toward the top of the staircase.

"CHUCK!" She yelled, "SARAH'S READY!" Sarah laughed at Ellie, who looked so excited she could have burst into a million suns and rainbows, "You look stunning, absolutely stunning," Ellie whispered, before turning Sarah round to look at Chuck who was standing at the bottom of the stairs, mouth agape in shock.

"What…the…"he gibbered. Sarah smiled shyly.

"I know. Shocking isn't it?" Chuck shrugged his shoulders, feigning nonchalance.

"Meh, I knew you'd turn out like this anyway. Why did you think I liked you so much?" Sarah laughed delightedly and ran down the staircase into his arms. He caught her and swung her around, laughing as he did so, "you have told Carina about this, right? And Zondra? They will be so stunned when they see you." Sarah nodded, completely speechless. In a moment of forgetfulness, she kissed him.

It was short, sweet, and completely unexpected. What was even more unexpected was that he kissed her back.

MM

When Sarah walked into school the next Monday, she was prepared for the absolute worst. She had managed to keep her hair the same (discovering that really, it was so much simpler than thought) and her makeup fresh and simple. So when Holly, one of the cheerleaders and self-proclaimed Queen of popularity, came rushing up to her, Sarah closed up. Really, an insult this early in the week?

"Hi! Welcome to Lincoln School. I'm Holly!" Sarah laughed incredulously. Was she really that unrecognisable? Holly grabbed Sarah's arm, making instant claim to this girl she assumed was new, yet pretty enough to hang out with her selective clique.

"Err, no thanks Holly." Sarah carefully extracted herself from the cheerleader's grip, "and I'm not _that_ new." Leaving Holly looking extremely flabbergasted, Sarah stalked off to join Carina and Zondra, who were both looking at her as if they had seen a ghost. Sarah grinned at them, "like what you see girls?" Carina finally retrieved her voice to say,

"Sarah Lisa Walker. Is that seriously you?" Laughing aloud Sarah hugged her friend tightly in confirmation of her identity, "oh dear Lord! What has the Bartowski girl done to you?" Letting Carina go Sarah smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

"Just a bottle of hair dye and a slight change in wardrobe," she shrugged her shoulders, "is it really that big a deal?" Zondra scoffed lightly, grabbing her friend's arm.

"Err, hello? Have you seen the way the jocks are looking at you now? It's as if you are an angel, fallen from, like, heaven!" Sarah giggled, linking arms with the two other girls.

"Ah Zondra, you always had a way with words…" The three began walking to their classes, ignoring the stares they had begun getting. They had always been considered outcasts, Sarah for her looks, Carina and Zondra for opposing Holly's iron fist rule over the rest of the student body. But now Sarah had had her makeover, people began noticing them. Carina and Zondra had already been attractive, but now, they all turned heads.

"This is _super _weird," Zondra whispered to the other two, "I have never felt so… exposed in my entire life!" Carina rolled her eyes and scoffed lightly.

"Accept it; we're going to go throughout the day being mentally undressed by the male population of this place." Sarah smiled softly; glad she had some sort of protection in the form of her friends. She also had Chuck, who, although not strong or incredibly popular, had the respect and love of the entire student body, although he didn't realise it himself. The three girls walked into homeroom and sat at an empty table, Sarah placing her bag on the seat next to her so as to save it for Chuck. They decided to ignore the stares they were receiving from the rest of the class, and pulled out work they needed done for that day.

Things seemed to be going smoothly enough. Chuck still hadn't arrived, but Sarah saw that as a blessing. This way she was getting work done, and not passing flirty notes to him (especially now they were dating, it would be even more difficult to concentrate). She was on her third paragraph of her English essay about J.R.R Tolkien, when she heard someone behind her clear their throat. Turning slowly, she discovered the culprit to be Holly and her bunch of wannabes. She raised an eyebrow as Holly gave her a winning smile.

"Look, newbie, you _obviously _have no clue who I am, but I am giving you a ticket to popularity!" Holly tossed her red hair back, green eyes sparkling, "you are so pretty, and I am so pretty. We are just, made for each other best friend wise." Sarah suppressed the urge to laugh, and turned back to Carina and Zondra, both of whom looked like they wanted to burst into hysterics. Sarah gave them the evils, sticking her tongue out, and then turned back to Holly, who was still smiling like a crazed Barbie doll.

"Look, _Holly, _I am flattered that you would even consider me a friend, let alone a best friend, but you made your feelings towards me perfectly clear a couple of months ago, when I first joined here." Holly's smile faltered slightly, as Sarah watched the girl piece together who she actually was. There was silence in the room, the entire class watching. It was only when one of Holly's wannabes said,

"O…M…G. That's not Walker!"

That the tension erupted into cries of "what the hell?" and "how did that happen?" Sarah turned back to Carina and Zondra, who were beaming like mad.

"See?" Sarah chuckled, "this makeover was a good thing!"

MM

"So, you were saying…?" Sarah laughed as Chuck played with her hand. He was lying; face up, on her lap as they sat on the school field watching Carina and Zondra play soccer.

"Well, all these jocks suddenly approach me, talking about how I got incredibly lucky with the new girl, and then I say it's you and they all are like 'damn, that Walker girl cleaned up nice!'" Sarah laughed even harder at Chuck's impression of the footballers. He grinned back up at her, eyes sparkling with happiness.

"You know, it's weird. Everyone wants to talk to me now. No one actually believes that I'm, you know, me." She shrugged and ran her free hand through his hair, "I guess it's both a compliment and an insult." Chuck grinned.

"What? The whole idea that you'd stay the way you were forever?" Sarah nodded slowly and Chuck shrugged, "You were totally one of those girls who would grow into something beautiful," he cupped her face, "and you really have." Sarah couldn't stop the smile forming. She grinned widely, and looked back up to the soccer game they were supposed to be watching, just as Carina scored a goal.

"YES!" Sarah cried out, "GO CARINA!" Carina looked over at her friend and rolled her eyes good naturedly. Both Chuck and Sarah chuckled and went back to talking in their own world. Zondra ran over to Carina to congratulate her.

"I swear they haven't been going out that long…?" She asked quietly. Carina nodded slightly, and then shrugged.

"Well, they are kind of perfect for each other. And it's a stronger relationship based on the fact that Sarah wasn't this new pretty version before they met. He liked her with frizzy hair and braces."

**I know that this wasn't hugely Charah heavy, but you know what? Whatever… Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. This will be a one shot only, because I cannot be bothered with it anymore. It's all I have been writing for the past five days. So yes, I am sick of it.**

**I apologise for any mistakes I made factually with the school system. I'm from England, so it's very different, and I have no internet to check sadly. As you can see, I left out ages. You can fill in the blanks yourself… And if you're wondering, it's the 17****th****, and I **_**still **_**haven't made any friends. Sad times…**

**Thanks for reading!**


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